


Patronus

by TaraHarkon



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adult Draco Malfoy, Draco Angst, F/M, Good Draco Malfoy, HP: EWE, Past Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Patronus, Post-Canon, Post-War, Redeemed Draco, Ron Weasley Bashing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-11
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-04-20 07:35:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4778936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaraHarkon/pseuds/TaraHarkon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It is the decision of the Wizengamot that the truest test of a dark wizard is their inability to produce a patronus. As such, should Draco Malfoy be able to produce a patronus despite bearing the Dark Mark, he will be allowed to go free. The Wizengamot recognizes that this is a difficult spell and he will be permitted a year’s time to practice."</p>
<p>With that court decision, Hermione sets about helping Draco on the path to freedom and to the future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Patronus

“It is the decision of the Wizengamot that the truest test of a dark wizard is their inability to produce a patronus. As such, should Draco Malfoy be able to produce a patronus despite bearing the Dark Mark, he will be allowed to go free. The Wizengamot recognizes that this is a difficult spell and he will be permitted a year’s time to practice.”  
Draco’s face was even paler than usual as Hermione took his hand.  
“This is amazing, Draco!”  
She squeezed gently and the smile on her face was almost unbearable, like looking into the sun.  
“I…don’t know.” They were walking through the halls of the Ministry now, making their way to the lobby and the floo. “What if I can’t do it?”  
There was quiet between them then. They’d become friends during the repeat of their final year of school, and been spending time together since, but still.   
“I’ll help you.”  
She said it just as they arrived at the lobby and he looked up, stunned.  
“What?”  
“I’ll help you practice. If a bunch of us could learn it fifth year with Umbridge breathing down our necks, I guarantee you can learn it with the promise of freedom waiting for you.”  
He just shrugged.  
“I’ll try, Granger. That’s all I can promise.”  
Taking a handful of floo powder, he threw it into the fire.  
“Malfoy Manor.”  
He vanished into the flames, leaving her standing there.

 

* * *

They met up again a few days later at her flat. Draco knocked on the door, acting the muggle for once. When she opened the door, she smiled brightly at him and he held up a bag.  
“I brought take-away from that little café you showed me last weekend.”  
“Excellent! Pop it on the table and we’ll get started. You read through the book I sent over?”  
He nodded.  
“For as much good as it did me.”  
“Oh come off it, Draco. It must have been at least a bit useful.”   
She looked just a bit forlorn and he smiled.  
“Oh, alright, yes. It was thorough and educational. And I did need a grounding in the theory. But I’m still not certain I can do it.”  
She reached into the bag to pull out a bottle of pop and held it out to him.  
“Have you got a memory in mind?”  
Then he looked away.  
“That’s the problem.”  
“You must have _something_. Merlin, Draco, you were basically spoilt as a child. There was to be some happy memory.”  
He shook his head and popped the top off his soda.  
“Every memory I have in the manor or at Hogwarts has been…tainted.”  
Taking a long swig, he sat at the table and pulled his sandwich out of the bag. Hermione sighed and followed suit, smiling when she saw that he’d also gotten her a cup of the soup she’d liked so much before.  
“We’ll come up with something.” 

* * *

Draco held his wand up, eyes closed and tried to focus on the feeling of flying. He loved flying, loved quidditch. He smiled as he thought about when he’d made Seeker for the Slytherin team.  
“Expecto Patronum!”  
Then, his memory shifted and he remembered standing there, proud in his new uniform and immediately being accused by Potter and Weasley of buying his way onto the team. The little splotch of silver light in the air vanished immediately.  
“You did a lot better that time, Draco. Give it a moment and let’s try again.”  
He nodded slowly and looked at her, his eyes distant.  
“I didn’t buy my way onto the team, you know.”  
“What?”  
He jammed his wand into his pocket.  
“The Slytherin quidditch team. I didn’t buy my way on. Father sent those _after_ I made the team.”  
Hermione watched him uncertainly and then stood, coming to give him a hug.  
“We were horrid to you, weren’t we?”  
He pushed her away, but only just.  
“I gave as good as I got, Granger.”  
“I certainly don’t doubt that.”  
She dropped into one of the plush chairs in her living room and looked up at him, deep in thought.  
“What about the Yule Ball?”  
For a moment, an image flashed through his mind. A periwinkle dress. Then he remembered spending the evening with Pansy Parkinson and shook his head.  
“No, I don’t think any night spent with my feet being repeatedly trod on by Pansy can be considered a good memory.”

 

* * *

When Draco arrived for their usual lessons, a scarf around his neck and his cloak pulled close, the last thing he expected was for a teary-eyed Granger to open the door still in her pyjamas.  
“Come…come on in.”  
He held up the bag of now-traditional take-away in the hopes of getting a smile out of her.  
“What’s wrong?”  
“Nothing…it’s nothing. I just had a row with Ron.”  
“Again.” He pressed the little cup of soup into her hands and guided her back to the couch. “No lessons today, Granger. What did he do this time?”  
It was a measure of just how upset she was that she let him. She pulled her knees up to her chest and was nearly hugging her soup.  
“He was being…inconsiderate and rude and boorish and-“  
“And in a word, Ronald.”  
She looked up, mouth open to defend him, and then stopped. This wasn’t the first time they’d had this conversation. Far from it. Instead, she just took a sip from her soup.  
“Granger, I know you keep saying everything is alright. But I really should not be acting as your relationship counselor nearly this often. And from what I hear from Potter, the Weaslette is doing it nearly as often.” Draco put a hand on her shoulder. “If he’s going to keep making you cry, I would rather stoutly aver that he does not deserve you.”  
Hermione sighed a little and pulled further into herself.  
“Fancy hearing you say something like that.”  
No sooner had the words left her mouth than she regretted them. The look of guilt on Draco’s face, accompanied as it was by him pulling back from her, was too much.  
“Just…just think about it, alright?”  
“I will. I promise.”

 

* * *

_“I broke it off with Ron.”_  
The memory of her saying those words rushed through him when he tried to grab hold of something good in his life, something that made him happy. He could picture her standing there with the smile on her face, saying those words and then suggesting they go down to Diagon Alley so she can get some ice cream and maybe a book, but really she’s fine. For the first time in a long time she’s going to be just fine.  
“Expecto Patronum!”  
Draco’s expression was determined, focused, but also just that littlest bit happy. The silver mist came out of his wand quickly and then, for the first time it coalesced into a discernible animal. Hermione watched it frolic in the air for a moment, her eyes wide with surprise, while Draco let out a laugh of pure happiness. After a long moment, Hermione pulled out her own wand and cast the same spell with a flick. Her Patronus joined Draco’s and he turned to look at her with surprise in his eyes as the two otters cavorted. He wondered, watching her face, if she knew what that meant. She looked surprised, that was plain enough. But did she really understand.  
“Hermione-“  
The surprise in her eyes grew as she turned to look at him.  
“Draco, did you just-?”  
He reached for her hand, nodding, the smile on his face growing as all the thoughts he had ever had about this girl, this woman, suddenly pulled themselves out of a jumble and into something that made sense. 

* * *

“And as you can see, witches and wizards of the Wizengamot, Draco Malfoy is quite capable of producing a Patronus.”  
Hermione squeezed Draco’s hand, much as she had done at his trial, but this time there was a smile on his face to match hers.  
“Very well. As his sentence did stipulate freedom if a Patronus was produced, it is the decision of the Wizengamot that Draco Malfoy is free to go.”  
As soon as they were outside the doors of the , Draco kissed her cheek.  
“Come on, love, we’ve only got an hour before those reservations and I, for one, need to clean up first.”


End file.
